I have a sneaking suspicion that although a lot of us talk about the worst case scenarios, few of us actually prepare and maintain a state of readiness to that effect.
Take the life raft that was on Akupara when we purchased her. The hard case was so weather beaten that it was impossible to make out a manufacturer, a last date of inspection or any other relevant information. The rubber seal that is in between the two halves of the case was hanging partially out and to top it off, the entire thing was tied with an old piece of rope to 2 wooden chocks that did not actually fit the life raft canister and had rusted screws to boot. One good wave and the entire thing would have been washed overboard.
The emergency watermaker was found way down in the bowels of the boat and there was no clear evidence of a proper ditch kit.
This is not how we run a ship and there was no way I was going to trust the lives of my family to an outdated, unknown liferaft, so I set it in the backyard and pulled the cord.
Now this isn’t the first time I have done this.
I purchased an old used life raft several years ago at the same time we purchased the brand new life raft for Mara II, our Alberg 30. I purchased the old one to give the family a chance to actually see and play with a liferaft in order to give them a bit of familiarity with it and with what it actually contained.
That life raft was actually stocked fairly well and had semi useable equipment inside of it. Akupara’s liferaft on the other hand had very little useable stuff inside, and what was there, was either soggy, rusted or covered in battery acid from the leaking D cells for the flashlight.
One thing that does amaze me, is that both of these old life rafts actually inflated on the first pull.
Inside the canister is a date from 1993 so I assume this was the last time it had been repacked, which means it would have expired in 1998. Then again that could also be the expiry date itself. So the long tall and short of it, is yes the raft inflated, no I would not trust my life to it after seeing it’s condition. I will put it up for donation on craigslist.org, maybe someone has a use for it OTHER than as a liferaft!
The last six months or so have been extremely busy for both Andrea and I at work and at home, not to mention our purchasing Akupara and the beginning of the restoration. The next six months will be just as busy if not worse so we both decided a quick getaway was in order.
We went to our agent, picked something reasonably inexpensive and 7 days later were on a plane to de-stress in the sun and the sand. Of course this means that in effect we lost 2 weekends of work time, but it was well needed.
We actually did not talk a lot about Akupara during our trip which was nice, although when we did, it was interesting how both of us were thinking along the same lines. We talked briefly about how important it is going to be to get the watermaker working properly. This was reinforced by the fact that we were in the Dominican Republic which is known for bad water and a lot of people on the resort were feeling the results of that. Even though they had not directly drank the water, they had still been exposed through the ice in their drinks. Which led of course to a brief discussion on the importance of ensuring the refrigeration and freezer needs to be 100% as well.
By day 3 the admiral actually made the statement “I don’t think I can stay in the sun any longer, I need to find some shade.” Tada – the dodger and bimini is going to have to be well constructed to allow for lots of airflow and yet provide for privacy as well. At night in the hotel room, we eventually gave up on the air conditioning as it was way too loud, but that also brought up the question of, as we grow older, are we going to need air conditioning to sleep. At this point we can manage just fine but it also seems to help with the humidity as well so perhaps we should investigate it.
We rented a little speed boat and went on a guided trip up a local river to experience the “true” island life. It was a lot of fun to be blasting around and seeing the jungle from the river side. Almost felt like we were in the movie Apocalypse Now, parts of which were apparently filmed in the DR, without all of the shooting of course. Hmmm, maybe we need to upsize the dinghy and outboard. Our RIB is 9 feet with an 8hp motor, but would it ever be nice to have a steering wheel as opposed to a tiller on the outboard.
As our eventual goal is to retire aboard Akupara, all of these little things are actually extremely important to us and the wrong decision now, when we have the time to make the right one, could possibly come back to haunt us, and I know for a fact that I am not going to want to start major repair projects or modifications in 31 degree Celsius heat.
Most of the week there were local fisherman performing their daily activities in the bay in front of our hotel and I commented several times to Andrea how simple their life seems to be. Not easy by any means, but simple. All of them were in old boats with peeling paint and leaking seams, some without engines, none with watermakers, refridgeration, freezers, air conditioning, dodgers or bimini’s, high speed outboards or any of the rest of the fancy stuff we “need” and yet they get by. Our plan is to eventually make Akupara our home as I have said, and part of the reasoning for that is to make life more simple and therefore more enjoyable, and yet all of our needs seem to do the exact opposite. This planning process as we refurbish Akupara is going to be a balancing act of need versus want and complexity versus simplicity. It is hard to make a conscious decision to give up something, but then again, if it makes life too complicated in the first place, is it even worth it?
I guess this trip actually had a lot more to do with Akupara and her refit than I thought! I wonder if I can claim it as research? 😉
So we had our first, of many I’m sure, contractors out to Akupara last weekend to take a close look at the decks and provide an estimate to having them media blasted.
He seemed like a thoughtful contractor. He discussed the project at length, he examined most of Akupara’s decks, he even took pictures of some spots. He discussed portioning off parts so as to minimize the dust etc. and we took a screwdriver and scratched off some of the non skid to attempt to determine how thick it was.
When he had gathered enough information, he thanked us and was on his way, but then about 2 minutes later there was a knock on the hull. He asked if there was a piece that he could bring back to his shop in order to run some tests. That way he would have a better idea as to how much material he would need to remove the non skid and paint. I reluctantly removed one of the aft locker lids and let him take that on his way.
The next day I received an email with a nice quote all typed up and professional, but to my horror it was $9300! How in hell can a rough estimate go from $1300 with one company to $9300 for another.
Well, the answer lies in one’s understanding of what gel coat actually is. In the email exchange that followed his quote, he kept talking about how much effort was required and how much media he needed to get the paint and non skid off. I know some of these products can be hard, but I was still in sticker shock so I didn’t really pick up on certain subtleties of his spoken word. In any event, I made it clear that I was not going to proceed at that price and we made an arrangement to meet so that I could get my locker lid back.
Imagine my surprise when I went and picked it up and saw this.
Ya I can take it down to the gelcoat no problem. So what is gelcoat exactly???
It seems that in all of his eagerness to obtain the job, he may have forgotten (if he ever knew) what gelcoat is, or perhaps he got confused and thought I had said, take off all of the gelcoat, but in any case, all of the non-skid and al of the paint and all of the gelcoat has now been removed from my locker lid.
Oh well, now we can practice our filling and fairing techniques as well as our painting and non skid applications. 🙂
All I can think is thank god I didn’t just give him the go ahead and come back to find half of Akupara’s decks down to raw glass…no wonder he had such a hard time getting the paint off!
UPDATE:
Turns out the marina where Akupara is stored only allows 1 company to do media blasting and they only use iron or glass. They are not able to remove only the paint and in fact would probably remove most of the first layer of glass. So much for media blasting. The only option would be to move the boat to a yard that does allow it, and that just makes the cost prohibitive. Back to sanding I guess.
Well the last 2 weekends have been absorbed by slowly removing bits and pieces from Akupara’s decks.
We are bound and determined to remove every nut, bolt, screw and every kind of adhesive and sealant known to man. So far we have managed to strip half of the cockpit and everything on the main cabin top.
Including all of the wood trim, which will not be going back on.
What should be an easy job, can sometimes turn out to be incredibly frustrating. For example the nice little brass rings that the dorade vents screw into.
They are held with 4 little machine screws with nuts on the back. No combination of tool that I currently possess will do the job. The only way we finally managed to get the last screw out in each vent was by holding a socket with a pair of pliers and one hand inside the dorade box as the other person turned the screw. We messed with these for over an hour, but we finally got them all out without breaking anything.
Speaking of screws, the only type of screw we have yet to find is a Robertson. You know, the only type of screw that actually makes sense in 2015. We have big slots and little slots, and medium Philips and tiny Philips but not one Robertson. Every screw that we have removed thus far has been destined for the trash bin and every screw that we put back in place will be a stainless Robertson screw!
In our dismantling of everything we knew that we would discover more issues than what we originally planned for and yesterday we discovered some bad core around the chimney.
Thankfully based on sounding the deck, it does not seem to be very far spread, but the truth will only be discovered completely when we start the repair. We are not sure at this point if we will even put the molded chimney piece back.
All of the opening hatches on the cabin top have been removed and are currently only held on by 2 screws each. Our plans are to replace all of them with new ones as the aluminum frames are very badly corroded. Each and every screw hole in the hatch frames had been filled with caulking on top of the screws, go figure.
To this point we have identified several distinct types of goop. Some of it is clear silicone, some of it looks like bathroom silicone, then we have of course the 3m 4200/5200’s, and finally butyl tape.
The interesting part is that the butyl tape appears to be from the original build, and although it is 40 some years old, it is still as flexible and goopy as new stuff.
It is also one of the most tenacious not counting 4200 and 5200 of course. A note to the wise. Any time you grab a tube of goop, and the first word is “Adhesive.” Stop and think if you, or any other person on the planet, will ever have to remove that part again. If the odds are greater than 1%, please, please, do not use 3m 5200.
We had our first contractor on Akupara to look at media blasting the decks, thanks to a very smart guy (Martin). We have received one guestimate already of $1300 to soda blast all of the paint and non skid, however this was based on pictures that I sent him. Let’s see, 500 sheets of sandpaper, 3 months of sanding morning to night, sore back, sore arms, burnt out sanders, lung contamination from breathing in all of the particles versus paying someone to do it in a day. I will let you decide which is the better course of action. I haven’t completely ruled out sanding yet, but that’s only because I am cheap and always think I can do it for less…;-)
As I was writing this we received the 2nd quote, $9300. Uhmm, something isn’t right here, $1300-$9300. So as I was saying 500 sheets of sandpaper isn’t really all that expensive…
Another surprise yesterday was as I was removing the last of the screwed in snaps from the dodger, a nice stream of water started spurting out.
I immediately grabbed my drill and made a bigger hole and added one on the other side as well. It seems that water has been getting in from badly bedded wood trim and over time filled up the moulded section. I am probably going to leave these holes, just to ensure this never happens again. Thankfully this area has no open coring to be concerned with.
All in all it has been a good couple of days, it seems slow and it seems like things are getting worse at times as we slowly disassemble Akupara, but soon enough we will be on to the restoration part.
What’s that saying? It is always darkest before the dawn?
I almost forgot. I also brought the old dodger to the dumpster and committed it to the great beyond. (Great beyond as in farther down the boatyard towards the back when someone pulls it out) This was a hard thing to do for me. It was a approximately a $3000 decision as that is a ballpark guess as to what a new one will cost us. Had I not pitched it, I would have been tempted to try to fix it and put off the cost etc etc. It would look like hell on Akupara once she is all fixed up. Decision made. Move on. 😉
I have read a lot of articles about cruising with dogs seeing as how we have two of them, and I am somewhat confused as to what kind of dogs the people who write these articles have. Not what kind as in breed of dog, but what kind as in personality of dog. The kind that would resemble a good afternoon spent with a valium or two or the real kind that most of us have.
Let me back up by introducing you to our two dogs. Firstly we have Ashta.
The “Perfect” German Shepherd Dog
Ashta is a noble, gorgeous German Shepherd Dog. She is 8 years old and she is absolutely beautiful. Her colouring is perfect, her saddle is just right and her stance is as it should be, before the dog fanatics over exaggerated the slope of the hind end. When we are at the boat, Ashta is the picture of perfect. She commonly can be found surveying her kingdom as she lays on the cabintop guarding her keepers and her lands. Her lands by the way include the entire dock, all of the neighbours boats and typically speaking the parking lot as well.
Secondly, we have Wilson.
Yes, he is named after the Volleyball in the movie Castaway, and he has grown to strike quite the resemblance to his namesake, that is, as he appeared near the end of the movie, dishevelled would be an accurate description. Wilson is 2 years old and he is the comedian of the family. He attempts to be as noble as his big sister, but quite commonly gets things not quite right. An example would be if Ashta is laying on the cabintop and someone dares to intrude upon her kingdom, she has been known on occasion to tell said intruder exactly what it is she is thinking. Upon hearing Ashta begin to bark, Wilson who is usually sound asleep, will jump up to gain a better vantage point and immediately join in on telling off the scoundrels. Unfortunately, most of the time Wilson is pointed in the opposite direction and for all intents and purposes, has no idea what it is he is barking at. But we love him just the same.
So now that you have met our two lovely dogs, let me tell you how it is to be on a boat with two of them.
Hmm where should I start?
Well, remember the last time you were in that peaceful anchorage, sitting in your cockpit enjoying the sunset with a cool drink in hand, and you jumped up to see exactly where the fire truck was coming from? Ya that was probably us! See, German Shepherds are known to be vocal dogs and in all of her glory, Ashta is the most vocal German Shepherd out there! From the moment she gets into the dinghy, which is a whole other story, she begins to howl. It doesn’t matter if you go fast, or if you go slow. If you row or motor, sail or get out and push the dinghy by swimming. No matter what, she will howl. And trust me I know, I have tried everything! Typically we send the kids to shore with the dogs so that we can hide in the cabin cowardly. Ashta is so loud, that we have had people we don’t know, video tape us as we went by, as either they could not believe what they were seeing/hearing or they were determined to have evidence when they reported us, I’m not sure. I have tried making her swim to shore, okay I was so embarrassed I pushed her overboard, but even then, the damn dog manages to howl and bark as she is swimming! Once we finally arrive at shore, she is typically quiet. If you don’t count the barks echoing off of the surrounding mountains. She likes to hear herself, because then she can answer herself. Now I know what you are thinking. He is exaggerating. Well let me tell you I am actually playing it down. You would also think that the return trip from shore back to the boat would be quiet, seeing as how she has played herself out, done her business and is usually cold. Not a chance. Yup, she is just as loud on the way back as she is on the way there!
Now Ashta is approximately 70 pounds in weight, which means that the only person in the family who can lift her is me. I am highly suspect about this but anyway I will continue to believe it for now. What this does mean though is that I am the one who has to lift our noble German Shepherd Dog, who by now is soaking wet, stinks like seaweed and mud, up out of the dinghy, and onto the nice clean deck. Well, nice “was” clean deck. This also means that I am now soaked in a lovely mixture of seaweed, mud, sand, and of course dog hair. Lovely, is all I can say, because by this point, I am usually all ready for bed.
Speaking of doing her business. There is another dark side to cruising with dogs that I have read countless suggestions on how to deal with it, yes, I am going to talk about bodily functions, but I am hear to tell you that everything you have read about training your dog to go on a green piece of indoor/outdoor carpeting, or how bringing the dog to shore is so easy is all a load of bull shit. Okay in this case it isn’t “bull” but you get the point. The truth of the matter is as follows. Dogs like to chase sticks. People like to throw sticks. Dogs like to splash in the water. Dogs also pick up said sticks with their mouths. This means that said dog is picking up said stick in said water, which in our case means salt water. Salt water isn’t really that good for you. I can’t speak from experience of course, but I can speak from observing the affect it has on a dog from what I have witnessed.
So let me play the scenario out for you and you decide if cruising with dogs is the way you want to spend your holidays.
Your beautiful (insert breed) dog has played in the ocean all day. It is getting close to evening and the beach where all of the other cruising families have congregated is the only possible place to land your dinghy. Suddenly, (insert your dogs name) gets that look in their eyes and you know that your life is about to change forever. You jump to action, like any good dog owner does, and jump into the dinghy, frantically trying to beat (insert your dogs name) so as to avoid the inevitable dunking that will occur in the mayhem. You pull the starter on the outboard for dear life, praying that it will start on the first try, (insert your dogs name) eyes are beginning to cross and they are panting like they just ran a marathon. Your partner has contorted themselves into the oddest shape, trying to avoid being seen as they know what is coming. Till death do us part my behind! The engine starts, thank god, you know there is no alternative, for heavens sake man, you don’t want that in your dinghy, but to roar through the anchorage at full throttle while (insert your dogs name) howls prolifically waking even the dead, so that all eyes in the anchorage are upon you. People are yelling “Slow down” but you know you only have seconds so you persist. Your patience are done, you are near shore, you “accidentally” let (insert your dogs name here) jump into the water, and as you kill the engine and lift it out of the water, the dinghy scrapes bottom on the beach and you look over only to discover that (insert your dogs name here) has been unable to hold it, and has contaminated all the water where all the families are playing, with explosive diarrhea!
Yup, everything you read about cruising with dogs is true!
I should tell you about the time she vomited in the cockpit when we were sailing and how I found out when I stepped in it……
It is absolutely amazing how much difference 4 hands makes over 2. When we first purchased Akupara, the Admiral found a scraper and immediately began trying to take off the grey sticky plastic crap that was all over the cockpit seats. It was more of an exploratory effort than a real one and up until now it was a little hard to look at.
Well, since we have now started stripping the decks, we attacked it with a heat gun, 2 scrapers, the admiral broke the first one, and a belt sander to clean it all up. There is still a bit of extremely hard adhesive left, but all of the grey crap is off and the majority of the glue. Sadly enough, once the belt sander made it through the glue and into the top layer of paint, you could start to see where the old original teak strips were. We definitely will not be putting teak back on, the closest would be some type of fake teak.
We are also seriously thinking about NOT putting the wood box back in on the starboard side of the cockpit. Once I removed it, I was amazed at the amount of extra space the starboard bench had. Our plans for now are to have some serious cockpit cushions made that will result in a luxurious starboard cockpit sofa, great for lounging and entertaining, maybe not so great offshore, but it is all about sacrifices. 😉
The outdoor soon to be sofa, before the removal of the grey stuff.
If I allow myself to stop and think about the size of this project, I can easily get distracted and discouraged. The only way I can manage it is to break it down into easily digestible pieces.
To me, it is a matter of hull, deck, interior, electrical, mechanical and rig. See, that was easy. It is manageable. Anyone can wrap their head around 6 things.
So, as I have mentioned before, we will start with deck as it currently leaks at most of the fittings, so to prevent further damage, we need to fix it.
And what does that entail? Remove all deck fittings, fill all the holes, fix the wet core, strip the existing paint, prime with an epoxy sealer and paint. See, that was easy as well. Only 6 steps.
Okay but removing all of the fittings is a big job. Sure it is but it is only 6 easy steps. Remove the fasteners holding the fitting in place, gently pry the fitting loose, clean all of the existing caulk off the deck and the fitting, bring the fitting home, perform any repair or renovation required and finally, store it away until it is ready to be re-installed. Again, only 6 steps! Are you seeing a pattern yet? 😉
I can go on indefinitely until I have broken it down microscopically, if I need to, but as long as I keep to the 6 step process, I will be fine.
There are times when I do break it down to that level of detail, typically when I am tackling something that I do not know well, like mechanics or electrical, but usually my written to do lists are somewhere in between the first 2 levels of 6. However, I do try to think things down to the microscopic level but I seldom record it.
I do most of my thinking when I go to bed. As soon as my head hits the pillow, I start running through the details of my next job. I break it down into 6, and then again each of those steps into 6 and on and on. When I do run into a stumbling block, I do some research whether that be on the net in a book, and then I incorporate the new knowledge into that evenings rehearsal. I will sometimes tackle the same project for weeks at a time in my head, before I actually start it.
The admiral regularly asks me, “How the hell do you know how to do that? ” My common response is because I am a guy, and guys know stuff. This response usually is not met with a kind response but it is fun none the less. I don’t think she would actually believe me if I told her the truth.
Now that I stop and read what I have written, I guess it is a form of self visualization similar to what athletes use, mixed with a deep meditative state induced from repetitive zen like thought patterns and deep breathing.
And Akupara is ready to begin her transformation!!
Finally the shrink wrap is on. Prodigy Marine had to wait until the rain stopped of course and until the temperature was steady long enough to complete it.
They did a great job, and will be going back to add vents so that the condensation does not get too bad.
Wow, the decks sure do show their age when compared against the nice white of the plastic, and man 42′ is a lot longer than you think. I took this picture from the bow, with the admiral at the stern, going to have to get voice activated headsets just to communicate.
I opened all of the ports to start to let Akupara breath after being closed tight for a long time. We will have to get a dehumidifier to keep the moisture down I think.
So I have an admission to make. I have a problem. You see for years now I have been scouring Craigslist in search of charts, Nautical charts to be exact. Sometimes I have been lucky and have been able to find the odd one here or there, and now I have well over 500 paper charts. I told you I had a problem. The Admiral has recently discovered that our bed is not quite as hard as she thought it was. The cat has found a new play area under the bed, the dogs are bewildered by this as well. See, I pulled all of the charts out from under the bed and moved them down into the basement. The admiral will never look down there I know it! 😉 Some of the charts have been sorted and, although I hate the idea, have been rolled up and placed into tubes identified in big black lettering as to what part of the world they belong to.
I have charts for almost all of the oceans in the world. I am missing a lot of the South Pacific, including Australia, and several areas around Europe, but I am pretty much covered anywhere else. 🙂
So if you are planning a trip to Magadan, in the Sea of Okhotsk and you are missing a chart or two, I probably have it. 🙂
So anyway, I am looking for suggestions for down the road as to how to store a complete set, or nearly complete set of world charts on a Whitby 42?
Not a lot happened on Akupara yesterday, we managed to get everything out of our vehicles
and into the basement and we went to Walmart to look for a certain type of case that I like to sort all of the small stuff, but I guess it is the wrong time of year as they didn’t have any.
So instead I thought I would add some pictures of some of the more interesting “stuff” that we discovered in Akupara.
Books
About 30 of these came off of Akupara.
Survival Watermaker
For the ditch kit.
Windlass
Blocks and blocks and more blocks…
Flags
An anchor chain scrub brush.
A brand new 10 year old GPS
A Harkin Bosun’s chair
EPIRB
Brass stuff
ST2000 Tiller Pilot with Remote Control (not in picture)
A canvas sticher
And I also started preparing my tools and parts containers to be brought down to Akupara, almost as big of a job as emptying her out 😉
So all in all the day was still productive, and besides, it was pouring down rain and we were tired after 3 good days of work.
After sorting through all of the books on Akupara I find I have a few duplicates. First person to send me an email can have the following books. If you are not in Vancouver you will need to cover postage but other than that they are free.
Celestial navigation for yachtsman by Mary Blewitt
World Cruising Routes 5th edition by Jimmy Cornell
How to Sail around the World by Hal Roth
Boatowners Mechanical and Electrical Manual 2nd edition by Nigel Calder
Seems my library has outgrown itself… UPDATE: Books have been spoken for, thanks.
We have now successfully removed all of the “stuff” from Akupara!
There are 2 things left to take out, but I am not counting them as they are attached 😉 The stove and the aft head.
But I did at least get the stove off of the gimbals!
So how exactly did we get all of this stuff off of Akupara you might ask, well, let me explain. It involves old rope and old milk crates. Anything of any importance whatsoever that we decided to keep (which at this point does involve a fair amount of unknown stuff), was carefully lowered down over the side of Akupara inside a milk crate. When I was by myself this necessitated climbing up and down the ladder countless times. When the admiral was helping, it was a lot easier as she was below and would empty the “stuff” into our vehicles. Today we managed to fill both vehicles!
The items that we left on board are electrical wire, chemicals that we may need during the upcoming process and some of the tools that the previous owner had left behind, as well as all spare engine parts.
We spent another 5 hours today. Which puts our running total at 53 hours just to clean Akupara out in order to start the refit. We are also not counting the time it takes to unload the vehicles after each trip. This is just the time spent on Akupara.
We also had out first guest on board today! A good friend of ours came by for a visit. He was graciously positive, although his eyes betrayed his utter amazement at the thought of a project this big and he is no stranger to boats and the work involved in restoring them. He brought us fresh hot coffee at the perfect time that we needed a break! I think we also somehow guilted him into coming to our Sanding Party! Invitations will be sent out soon so anyone who is interested, speak up, pack your sander, and we will supply the beer and sandpaper! 😉 42′ times a ballpark average of 8′ equals approximately 336 square feet of sanding surface to practice your sanding skills on!! 🙂
Another 4 hours spent today sorting out all of the remaining stuff. There was a massive amount of random wire that I went through and I disposed of anything that was not marine grade. I did keep one piece of what appears to be welding cable that I will use to ground the main mast in the event of a lightening strike.
I brought another load of stuff home, but the weather was not cooperating so I wasn’t able to bring a lot.
The new work lights that we purchased sure made a big difference and for $15 each, I think we need to get at least 2 more. We are heading back today to try to finish emptying out Akupara.
I am excited to get my tools to Akupara and to start the removal of all of the wood. Up until now I feel like we really have not accomplished a lot, which is not exactly true. We have cleaned, identified, sorted and removed a lot of stuff which will make the actual word a lot easier.
We have finally decided that this will be a complete rebuild/refit. Up until now, I have not been completely sure as to what extent we would take this, but based on what we have seen it is now a certainty that it needs to be complete. The shore power although functioning has a strange way of heating up and when you start to look at the masses of wires running in all directions, it only makes sense to completely gut it all and start from scratch. We would lose way too much time trying to trace wiring, as opposed to just replacing it. As well, the 110 volt wiring is all original, and probably does not comply with current ABYC electrical standards. A lot of the plumbing has already been removed when they changed to a composting head in the forward head, so we will just continue that and remove it all. As well, the original holding tank, that I gather from the Whitby Brewer website was located below the main companionway, was converted a long time ago to battery storage. Our thoughts so far are to have two completely independent systems for a couple of reasons. Sanitation hose as it gets older begins to develop a smell, so having 30 feet of it all connected to one big tank worries me a bit. And by having 2 separate systems, if one develops an issue and needs repair, we will still have the other. And if both some how develop an issue at the same time, we can always revert to the bucket and chuck it system. Redundancy, that’s what I like!
We managed to spend about 2.5 hours on Akupara today, despite the Admiral being a little worse for wear, and of course another large pile of stuff developed on the ground,
However this pile was destined for places other than the dumpster.
Jeepers there is a lot of lines on a 42′ Ketch! Filled the back of our Pilot.
We did some measuring of the countertops to try and get an idea of what we were looking at cost wise to replace them with Corian and off to Home Depot we went. The nice lady at Home Depot kindly advised us the they only sell Corian countertops as a package that includes installation and that unfortunately they would not install them on a boat. Apparently installing a top on a box is different on a boat than it is in a house. Not quite sure I understand but we still managed to get an estimate of about $85 a foot installed. She says that most companies will be about the same price.
In any case we started the year off on the right foot by being on Akupara and although we didn’t get a lot completed, we did free up some more interior space. Of course the other side of the coin is that we are running out of basement space. I estimate one more trip with both vehicles and we should have Akupara completely empty, and then we can start bringing down my tools to really get the work started!
I have been poking a lot of fun at the previous owners, and that includes all of the previous owners, of Akupara in regards to the amount of stuff we have found hidden away in the dark recesses of her hull. For those of you who do not know, let me explain the difference between a cruising boat and a sail boat.
A modern sail boat, is a floating status symbol. It costs ridiculous amounts of money to buy, (we recently looked at a brand new Hanse 44, asking price $350000 plus commissioning, and that was on sale) It is made of lots of shiny materials, and high tech self tending sails with electric winches and bow thrusters and built in cappuccino machines. They feel as wide and spacious inside as a comfortable condominium. They are stunning and most sailors drool every time they see one at the boat show. I mean the lines of people all standing with their shoes removed, and socks with one or possibly two toes sticking through, just to be able to go inside and pretend that they could afford one, proves their appeal. And besides, all of the magazines tell you that you must have one. Those fortunate enough to be able to purchase one, are easily identifiable. They typically come screaming into the marina parking lot in the latest BMW/Porsche/Mercedes/Lexus sportamachine thingy, with the top down and the long blond hair flowing from the passenger side. When they manage to stop and park the sportamachine thingy, out step the 2 most beautiful people in the world with her clutching a pocket dog. You know, a pocket dog. The one that somewhere in ancient history was a member of the canine family, but has long since been removed and is now closer to the rodent (rat) family. It hates everyone, refuses to walk, and is usually named Cuddles or something just as ridiculous. The perfect pair make their way down to the “Yacht” and typically spend the rest of the day drinking red wine in crystal glasses, her in the bikini and him in the latest board shorts, while Cuddles pees in the lazarette. Except on Wednesday and Saturday. That’s when Mr Perfect arrives with all of his buddies, who I might add, are typically not as affluent as he is, all of whom are decked out in the latest matching racing gear, and Cuddles’ pee platform turns into the latest and greatest racing machine! As soon as the engine starts, the Captain transforms from Mr Perfect to Mr Jeckle. The sreaming starts, the insults, the putdowns, the lack of accountability for his own inability to steer. And as soon as they make it back to the dock, the excuses and the cheques start flowing. Well, the reason we only made 3rd place, is that my high tech spectra cross stiched with kryptonite headsail is 3 months old, I am going to replace it with a brand new one for next week and then watch out! They all jump into their sportamachines and tear off in a cloud of dust and expensive cologne.
All the while this is going on with Mr Perfect, quietly working on a 40 year old boat in the slip beside him, are the cruisers. She is sporting callouses as opposed to manicured nails like Mrs Perfect, her blonde locks are more a result of sun bleaching than salons and his belly more closely resembles a keg than a six pack. Their dog has a strange self assurance in its eyes, that only comes from knowing that it can hold it’s pee for 18 days on long crossings, while drinking water that tastes somewhat as good as stale plastic. Their boat doesn’t look exactly rundown, more well used like. It typically sports a self steering windvane, solar panels, and at least one home made contraption that makes their life easier. They drink rum and it definitely is not in crystal glasses. Their clothes are somewhat faded from all of the hand washing at sea, but they could sail their boat into, out of, beside, or on top of, if they so chose, any slip, port or harbour in the world without so much as a slightly elevated voice. When something goes wrong, they don’t whip out the chequebook, they go down into the dark recesses of the boat and pull out one of the spares that they have carried for years because they knew one day they would need it and where the hell are you going to get it when you are 800 miles from the nearest port? They have saved, skimped, bartered, and sometimes stole their way to where they are now. They fix their own sails, perform their own diesel maintenance, change their own watermaker filters, talk on the single side band radio and climb up and down their own mast like monkeys. They do not have loads of money in the bank earning interest faster than they can spend it, but they also don’t work 90 hours a week in order to have it, which is exactly why they have been able to take the time, learn the skills, and travel to those exotic places you see in all of the sailing/cruising magazines.
So to summarize the difference between a cruising boat and a sailing boat. A sailing boat is never more than a phone call away from the nearest sea towing service and a phone call is all that is needed along with a large credit card. A cruising boat needs to be self sufficient as it isn’t a matter of if something is going to break, it is a matter of when, and when it does happen, you better have the knowledge, parts, pieces, or stuff needed to fix it.
So to all of the cruisers out there, keep on hoarding, even though I have made light of you, I understand and respect you. And when the shit hits the fan, you are who I want to be at sea with, not Mr and Mrs Perfect along with peeing cuddles in their floating chequebook!!
We have decided to replace the Natures head composting toilet. From the research I have done, these things retail for over $1000. I will list it on Craigslist.org and try to sell it for $500 which should be about the cost for 2 new full sized bowl marine heads. Of course I will need to find a spot for 2 new holding tanks and all of the associated plumbing as well as budget for it, but the admiral is totally in line with this idea. We have had head smell issues in the past on other used boats, and the thought of not 1, but 2, smelly heads is just not appealing! We will go brand new for both systems and build them right. (Add 2 marine heads, hoses, holding tanks etc to costs page)
UPDATE: December 31, Natures Head is Sold!! Now we have a big empty space….and more holes to fill…
When we first went to see Akupara I climbed into the vberth and had a quick look inside the chain locker. I knew it was in pretty rough shape but once I started really investigating, the truth became more and more evident.
Since we have a soft spot on the foredeck, I decided to drop the anchor so that I would have access to the deck from underneath. The primary anchor is a big old rusty bruce, and the secondary a big old (not as bad) rusty CQR. After about 15 minutes of trying to free up the windlass (add a windlass rebuild to the project page) down went the bruce with a mighty crash. Good thing the marina yard cats weren’t sitting on the pallet I had placed there. The majority of the chain came out, with the occasional bit of encouragement but there was a lot of rust flakes on the deck. Next I let go the secondary chain.
This time I was not so lucky. about 1/4 of it did come out but then it came to an abrupt stop. Nothing I did would make it come out any more. I went back inside, climbed into the vberth and the reason became quickly obvious.
The majority of the rest of the chain is a giant rust ball. I will need to return with my grinder to cut it up and dispose of it. (Add a quote for 500 feet of new chain to the costs page.)
I made some progress today in other areas. I finally managed to track down where the auto tuner for the SSB is. It is behind the panel in the aft cabin.
I completed removing all of the stuff from the aft cabin, the nav station, and the vberth as well as both heads. Unfortunately I now have a small mountain of stuff to remove from Akupara so that we can begin to work.
Fortunately I think we have come to the end of throwing things out as well. I forgot to take a picture, but I had another mountain of stuff outside destined for the dumpster.
It seems I may have overindulged yesterday on turkey and all of the associated holiday goodies. That mixed with a rather long nap, led to heartburn and insomnia. So rather than waster the extra found hours, I started polishing the boat jewellery. It is all in pretty bad condition, or rather I should say it has a lot of patina. We prefer our brass to be shiny, and over the course of an hour, a little progress was made with the help of 3M Marine Metal Restorer and Polish.
The admiral keeps asking what I want for Christmas and I keep telling her, we already exchanged our present, a Whitby 42! Last night she told me that I could not put that on my Christmas Wish List because it would not fit under the tree. I begged to differ. I am entirely certain that if I brought the Christmas tree to Akupara, that I would be able to put it on deck and thereby have our Whitby 42 under the tree! 😉
Merry Christmas everyone and have a fantastic New Year!
That life raft was actually stocked fairly well and had semi useable equipment inside of it. Akupara’s liferaft on the other hand had very little useable stuff inside, and what was there, was either soggy, rusted or covered in battery acid from the leaking D cells for the flashlight.
